Murphy


Murphy is an Irish surname.

Origins and variants

The surname is a variant of two Irish surnames: "Ó Murchadha"/"Ó Murchadh", and "Mac Murchaidh"/"Mac Murchadh" derived from the Irish personal name "Murchadh", which meant sea-warrior or sea-battler.
It is said of Murrough as he entered the thick of the fight and prepared to assail the foreign invaders, the Danes, when they had repulsed the Dal-Cais, that 'he was seized with a boiling terrible anger, an excessive elevation and greatness of spirit and mind. A bird of valour and championship rose in him, and fluttered over his head and on his breath.
In modern Irish, "Ó Murchú", rather than "Ó Murchadha", is used.
"Murphy" is the most common surname in Ireland, the fourteenth most common surname in Northern Ireland, and the fifty-eighth most common surname in the United States.

People with the surname

Men